Al-Qaeda affiliate claims capture of UN peacekeepers

AGENCIES
Monday, September 01, 2014

Update: 5:15PM THE Syrian branch of al-Qaeda has acknowledged that it captured 45 UN peacekeepers in southern Syria, saying it was retaliation for what the group called the United Nations failure to help Syrias people during the countrys civil war.

The group, the Nusra Front, also accused the peacekeeping
force, which has monitored the demarcation line between Syria and the
Israeli-occupied Golan Heights since 1974, of protecting Israeli-controlled
territory while doing nothing to stop the killing on the Syrian side.

The Nusra Front said it was holding 45
peacekeepers, although the United Nations had said that 44 were being held, a
discrepancy that could not immediately be explained.

On Sunday, in a statement to the press, the
United Nations said the 44 soldiers from Fiji remained detained by armed
elements.

The statement followed attacks by rebels
believed to be the Nusra Front on two other bases used by 72 peacekeepers from
the Philippines on Saturday.

One group of 32 Philippine soldiers managed to
flee after receiving backup from the missions reaction force, the UN said.

On Sunday, the UN said in the statement that
the other group of 40 Philippine soldiers had left their post at night during a
cease-fire between them and the armed elements and had reached a safe
location an hour later.